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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io< s. in. MAY 27, 1905.

prioress, the complainant being in the king's service under the Earl of Rutland, and took away all the goods and chattels that were then in the said house and upon the demesnes."

I shall be much interested and obliged if any one can tell me of any like cases to this from the history of those times I mean with regard to the reinstatement in office of an ejected prior or prioress.

I may add that the said Richard Hawth- clyffe, or Hawcliff, was appointed rector of Nunburnholme in 1506. He was well con- nected, and evidently a man of considerable influence. I do not know when he died, nor what his end was. The above bill of com- plaint against Hawcliff and his followers is undated ; but I imagine it was made early in 1537. The last prioress was Elizabeth Kylburne. M. C. F. MORRIS.

Nunburnholme Rectory, York.

MADAME VIOLANTE IN EDINBURGH. This celebrated rope-dancer was in Edinburgh with her troupe of comedians and panto- mimists during 1735-6. Details of the per- formances given under her management (summarized from the advertisements in The Caledonian Mercury) are to be found in Dibdin's 'Annals of the Edinburgh Stage.' I should feel obliged to any reader who could favour me with fuller information on the subject, more particularly as to the pieces performed and the names of the company.

Madame Violante is said to have retired from funambulism early in 1737, and to have opened a dancing academy in Edinburgh, where she remained until her death in 1741. Corroboration of these details is anxiously desired. Can any one say whether a portrait of the famous rope - dancer was ever pub- lished ; also if there are any records extant of her visits to Chester and Shrewsbury in 1732 ? Information concerning la Violante's performances at any place save London and Dublin would be thankfully received.

W. J. LAWRENCE.

54, Shelbourne Road, Dublin.

HUGO DE BURGH. I shall be much obliged if any lover of old books can tell me where I can find the legend or history of Hugo de Burgh and Queen Matilda. A lady I know read it some twenty or more years ago and has forgotten the name of the book, but says it was an old one. F. S. V.-W.

CHEMIST OF THE FUTURE. Could any of your readers tell me from what book I can obtain a quotation somewhat similar to the following f As the chemist of to-day has surpassed the alchemist of the past, so the chemist of the future will surpass the wildest

conceptions of the chemist of our day. The chemist of the future will go into the by-ways of our great cities, and from the pollution he may there gather he will evolve upon his laboratory table a tiny piece of gold or a faultless diamond. W. E. P.

THUNDER. FOLK-LORE. In Chambers's ' Book of Days,' under April 21, the following is quoted from Leonard Digges, 'Prognos- tication Everlasting,' 1556 :

" Some write that Sunday's thunder should bring the death of learned men, judges, and others ; Monday's thunder the deatli of women ; Tuesday's thunder plenty of grain ; Wednesday's thunder the death of harlots ; Thursday's thunder plenty of sheep and corn ; Friday's thunder the slaughter of a great man, or other terrible murders ; Saturday's thunder a general plague and great dearth."

I am anxious to trace this curious belief to its source. Can any reader identify the "some" writers to whom Digges refers 1 ?

JAS. PLATT, Jun.

BONAPARTE AND ENGLAND. Is there any confirmation of the following 1 It is to be found in " Napoleon III. From the Popular Caricatures of the Last Thirty Years. With the Story of his Life, by James L. Haswell. A New Edition. London, John Camden Hotten," no date.

" A Fact not Generally Known. The following is an extract from a letter of the Rev. Thomas Belsham, dated Hackney, 16 August, 1805, which contains an account of a visit to the Duke of Graf ton ' ' Admiral Cosby told me one circumstance which was curious. When he was commander-in- chief in the Mediterranean, during the late war, at the time that we were in possession of Corsica, and when Sir Gilbert Elliott was Governor-General of the island, General Paoli introduced Buonaparte, then a young man, to the governor and to the admiral, as a friend of his who would be glad to be employed in the service of England ; but these wise men, not having Lavater's skill in physiognomy, rejected the proposal, which obliged Buonaparte to offer his services to the French, and this was the rise of Buonaparte's fortunes. I had often heard that Buonaparte had offered his services to the English and been rejected, but I hardly gave credit to it till I learned it from Admiral Cosby him- self.'" P. iv.

Bonaparte was a captain in the French army in 1792. He was in Corsica in the earlier half of 1793. HOBERT PIERPOINT.

LINES BY WHYTE MELVILLE. -I am most anxious to find some lines which I am told were written by Whyte Melville for a friend of his who was killed in the hunting field. I don't think they are published in any of his books. I shall be exceedingly grateful if these lines can be found for me. M. C. L.

" I SIT WITH MY FEET IN A BROOK." In

an article on ' The Decadence of Humour '